Mantra meditation as adjunctive therapy in major depression: A randomized controlled trial

To investigate the efficacy of add-on mantra meditation compared to progressive muscle relaxation in major depression. This study was a two-arm, single-site, raterblinded, randomized controlled trial involving 123 inpatients at a psychiatric hospital diagnosed with major depression according to DSM-IV criteria (January 2017 to June 2020). The treatment group practiced mantra meditation (MAM, N  = 60); the comparator group practiced progressive muscle relaxation (PMR, N  = 63). Both treatments were delivered via an introductory lesson followed by 30-minute group sessions twice weekly, adjunctively to usual treatment for depressive inpatients (TAU). The primary outcome measure was change in clinician-rated depression symptom severity, measured by the MADRS interview. The secondary outcome measure was self-reported depression severity, measured by the BDI-II questionnaire. Intentionto-treat was analyzed using linear mixed models. The TAU + MAM group had significantly greater improvements in MADRS score than the TAU + PMR group, both at the 3- month follow-up (between-group difference = 4.78, 95% CI = -8.32 – -1.42; d  = 0.62) and at the 6-month follow-up (between-group difference = -6.24, 95% CI = -9.80 – -2.69; d  = 0.79). Posttreatment, self-reported depression symptom severity was not significantly lower in the TAU + MAM group than in the TAU + PMR group. Exploratory analysis of the differences between primary and secondary outcomes showed that mantra meditation mainly improved mood rather than cognitive symptoms. In inpatients with major depression, adjunctive mantra meditation led to clinically relevant reduction in depressive symptom severity. Further research would build evidence for the untapped potentials of mantra meditation. ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier : NCT03004430